Fate of Gombe varsity hangs in balance

The decision of the Gombe state government to set up a committee to look into the viability or otherwise to continue to maintain the state owned University of Science and Technology located in Kumo, Akko local government area of the state, has stirred the hornet’s  nest as reactions have weighed heavily against it. Those who have strongly risen against the move by the Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya administration said the whole thing is politically motivated.

The state government had  set up a committee under the chairmanship of erudite  academic, Professor Buba Bajoga, to, among other things, determine the viability or otherwise of the sustenance of the university and other four tertiary institutions, namely, Gombe State College of Education, Gombe State Polytechnic, Gombe State College of Legal and Islamic Studies, and Gombe State School of Nursing. The committee is also to make other  recommendations as it deems necessary. The committee was given 30 days to submit its report for the state government to take action therefrom.

No sooner than the decision got into public domain than scathing criticisms began to pour in against the move by Governor Yahaya. The first to fire the salvo is a former Chief of Staff to former Governor Danjuma Goje, Alhaji Lamido Umar Chikaire, who said the decision was improper.

One of the decisions the state government took that infuriated Chikaire was the call to the community to manage the university. The former CoS feared that the university would be shut down as the community cannot manage the institution, founded by the immediate past administration of Governor Ibrahim Hassam Dankwambo. It is the second university owned by the state, the first was set up by the Goje administration.

It was reliably gathered before the inception of the Inuwa Yahaya administration in the state, that his government will not sustain the running of the university and other tertiary institutions established by the Dankwambo administration.

Chikaire said, “When Goje established the Gombe State University that was how it all started but today, students from the university are doing well as most of them have now become doctors thereby surmounting the problem of inadequate doctors faced by the state in the past. When Dankwambo assumed power, he didn’t ask anybody to manage the institution. Frankly speaking, university education is beyond a community.”

A former Commissioner for Higher Education in the state, Dr. Isa Wade, revealed that the university was established based on the need to cater for  the snowballing demand for admission from secondary school leavers, adding that the institution was to accommodate 500 new students from the backlog of the 2018 admission but the institution has received more than 3,000 applications from qualified candidates. “That is to show you how timely and important the university is to the development of the state and the education sector.”

On October 26, 2017, the National Universities Commission (NUC) granted approval for the establishment of the Gombe State University of Science and Technology, Kumo, as the second state university in Gombe state, making it the 46th state university, 86th public university and 154th university in Nigeria.

Reacting also, Jonathan Ishaya said, “I feel strongly compelled to pen down this piece because of the recent moves by the governor to compromise education for political reasons. It all started like a wild fire -from asking the Akko local government elite to take the financial burden of managing the Gombe State University of Science and Technology, Kumo, to now the setting up of a committee to look at the viability or otherwise of all the institutions established by the Dankwambo administration.

”Dankwambo didn’t attempt to shut down the Gombe State University established by Goje but rather, he improved the institutions by adding Faculties of Pharmaceutical Science and Medical Science. We pray that the lots of Gombe State will not be destroyed by your bitter politicking”.

Chikaire had expressed similar fear as he alleged that Bajoga would not be objective in the assignment given to him because of his earlier stand when the Gombe State University was to be established by the Goje administration.

“It was surprising to all of us as to why a learned personality like Prof. Bajoga will stand against the idea of having a state university in Gombe, nevertheless, we went ahead to establish the university and today, we are all proud of that. With Professor Bajoga as the chairman of the committee, there is possibility of working against the interest of the state for selfish reasons,” Chikaire said.

Recently, a meeting of stakeholders from Akko local government area was held at the Abuja residence of Chikaire where it was unanimously agreed that they would confront Governor Yahaya to tell him their position on the future of the university.  It was learnt that the stakeholders not only condemned the establishment of the Bajoga committee, which they viewed as politically motivated, they have decided that they would do everything within their reach to ensure that nothing threatens the existence of the Gombe State University of Science and Technology.

It was reliably gathered that the NUC had recently contributed N54m to the institution while the COE Billiri received N621.9m from TetFund. Gombe State Polytechnic, Bajoga has also joined the TetFund intervention, Legal Nafada and Polytechnic are also getting intervention from Ashaka/Lafarge.

In defending the need for these institutions in the state, Mr. Ishaya argued that apart from creating job opportunities, these institutions will create social development to the areas they are situated and will reduce the rate of crime when our youths have access to quality education. I volunteer to Mr Inuwa that the university received over 3000 applications from the qualified candidates when they wanted to admit only 200 students from the backlog of the 2018 admission year. This clearly shows how important the institutions are to the development of education in the state.

A former Commissioner for Education in the state, Hajiya Aisha Ahmad, said because of increased enrollment into senior secondary schools, the state government had to establish additional higher institutions in the state because Gombe State University, Kashere, Federal University as well as Federal College of Education, Technical have become inadequate for the graduates of senior secondary schools. She said they were all surprised “because as a teacher, I know that investment in education takes very long time to yield result but then you know it is like magic, we have seen some changes”.

However, the media assistant to Governor Yahaya Uba Misilli has refuted all the allegations against his principal, saying they were all lies meant to tarnish the good work Governor Yahaya has embarked upon. He said he was not aware of any plan to shut down any university in the state, adding that his principal prioritises education.

“As you may be aware, education is one of the governor’s key priorities and it will continue to remain in the front burner of his administration. You may recall that the governor recently visited TetFund and UBEC, all in a bid to get support for both our basic and tertiary institutions in the state. The governor is mindful of his responsibility,” he retorted.

Meanwhile, as the voices of opposition had died down, the Bajoga committee has settled down to work, and has left many wondering what the committee was going to recommend after the end of its assignment.

Kera writes from Gombe.

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